You guys are in for a rude awakening. It's hard enough to win when we have one of the best coaches in the league. You know, the guy who creates the team culture, runs the offseason minicamps, makes the team schedule, runs training camp, creates the plays, creates the gameplans, breaks down the opponents on film, motivates our guys, selects who plays and when, decides who makes the team...that kind of stuff. Essentially everything.
It's a huge loss. And while we are good, we will be hard pressed to be a playoff team without Payton, much less a superbowl team.
All this rah rah rally around the flag for our ousted leader stuff is emotional crap. It might last a game or two. We might play with a chip on our shoulder for half a season or something. But once a little adversity comes our way, we'll be hosed. Our millionaires have a built in excuse lodged in their subconscious.
You're totally fooling yourself or are completely naive if you think this year isn't wasted. It is.
Even if everything goes as swimmingly as it possibly can, we've lost a huge factor in our success - Payton's mind, leadership, strategy and planning.